The US Supreme Court struck, in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, down state laws and bar association rules that had prohibited lawyers from advertising their fees for routine services.
Links: USA, Arizona, Supreme Court, Advertising

1978 Apr 27

Convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months.
Links: USA, Arizona

1978 Jun 29

Bob Crane (b.1928), the man who played Colonel Robert Hogan in the TV show "Hogan’s Heroes," was found bludgeoned to death in Scottsdale, Az. John Henry Carpenter (d.1998 at 70), a prime suspect, was tried and acquitted in 1990.
Links: USA, TV, Murder, Arizona

1978 Aug 26

Charles Boyer (b.1897), French-born film actor (Gaslight, Rogues), committed suicide in Phoenix, Az., 2 days after his wife's death from cancer. Boyer and actress Pat Robertson lost their only child in 1965, when their son shot himself playing Russian roulette.
Links: USA, Suicide, Filmstar, Arizona

1979

Mel Zuckerman and his wife Enid opened Canyon Ranch, America’s first total vacation and fitness resort, on an old dude ranch in Tucson, Arizona. By 2007 it was recognized as a premium health-spa of choice for the super rich.
Links: USA, Arizona

Hispanics in Phoenix Arizona, numbered about 15% of the population. By 2005 the number reached 42%.
Links: USA, Arizona

1981 Apr 22

In the largest US bank robbery, more than $3.3 million was stolen in Tucson Ariz. 4 men were later arrested for the robbery.
Links: USA, Arizona, Robbery

1982

In Arizona Karl LeGrand, a German citizen, stabbed to death a bank manager during a bungled robbery attempt with his brother Walter LaGrand. Karl was convicted and died by lethal injection Feb 24, 1999. Walter was executed a week later. A UN court in 2001 upheld that the US violated international law in the case.
Links: USA, UN, Murder, Arizona, Robbery

19831984

Twelve Navajo weavers in Arizona completed the 26x28 foot "Little Sister" rug. It was a smaller version of a larger rug woven in 1976, and recorded as the largest Navajo rug in the world. In 1997 the rug was put up for auction to raise funds for a community health clinic.
Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian

Arizona inmate Robert Henry Moormann beat, stabbed and suffocated his adoptive mother, Roberta Moormann (74), who allegedly sexually abused him into adulthood. He was out of prison in Florence on furlough for another crime, the kidnapping and molesting of an 8-year-old girl in 1972. Robert Henry Moormann was executed in 2012.
Links: USA, Mayhem, Sex, Murder, Arizona

1984

The Biosphere project in Oracle, Arizona, began and was designed to last 100 years.
Links: USA, Arizona, BioTech

1984

Charles Keating, Arizona land developer, bought Lincoln Savings & Loan. He then proceeded to loot the institution’s federally protected deposits by booking phony profits on sham land and securities transactions and fooled auditors and investors about the failing health of Lincoln and its parent American Continental Corp. He was convicted on state charges in 1991 and federal charges in 1993. The federal charges were overturned in 1996.
Links: USA, Arizona, Lawsuit, Scam, Banking

1987 Apr 18

In Arizona Gregory Robertson made a 200-mph free fall to save Debbie Williams, who had collided with a fellow diver at around 9,000 feet and was knocked unconscious.
Links: USA, Arizona

An Arizona state grand jury indicted Gov. Evan Mecham (1924-2008) and his brother, Willard, on charges of concealing a campaign loan. Both were later acquitted on these charges.
Links: USA, Arizona, Govm’t Scandal

1988 Jan 20

An Arizona House committee opened hearings on the possible impeachment of Gov. Evan Mecham.
Links: USA, Arizona, Govm’t Scandal

1988 Feb 5

The Arizona House impeached Gov. Evan Mecham, setting the stage for his conviction in the state Senate.
Links: USA, Arizona, Govm’t Scandal

The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct, and removed him from office. Mecham was the first U.S. governor to be so censured in nearly six decades.
Links: USA, Arizona

TimelinesA text-based site.

1988 Jun 16

Impeached and ousted Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham and his brother, Willard, were found innocent by a Phoenix jury of concealing a $350,000 campaign loan.
Links: USA, Arizona

In Arizona Debra Jean Milke was found guilty in the 1989 death of her son (4). The case rested on her purported confession, which was not recorded, to hire two men to kill her son. Milke spent 22 years on death row before her case was dismissed in 2014.
Links: USA, Arizona

Nine Buddhists were found slain at their temple outside Phoenix, Arizona. Two teen-agers were later arrested; one pleaded guilty to murder, the other was convicted of murder.
Links: USA, Murder, Arizona, Teens Amuck

Charles Keating, Arizona land developer and chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, was convicted on 17 counts of securities fraud in state court. Keating was one of the most controversial figures in the savings and loan scandals of the late 1980s. Keating's sales personnel persuaded depositors to put their money into high-risk junk bonds.
Links: USA, Arizona, Corp. Scandal, Fraud

1991

The US RVing Women organization, based in Apache Junction, Az., was founded as a support group for women travelers touring the country on their own.
Links: USA, Arizona

1991

Three men challenged the Virgil Earp law in Tombstone, Arizona, that forbade carrying guns in the city limits.
Links: USA, Arizona, Guns

Democrat Bill Clinton picked up additional victories in the South Carolina primary and the Wyoming caucuses, while fellow Democrat Paul Tsongas won the Arizona caucuses. President George H.W. Bush won the Republican primary in South Carolina.
Links: USA, Arizona, South Carolina, Wyoming, ClintonB, BushHW

1992 Apr 10

Financier Charles Keating Jr. was sentenced in Los Angeles to nine years in prison for swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed. He had acquired Lincoln Savings in 1984 through his Phoenix-based American Continental. The convictions were later overturned.
Links: USA, California, Arizona, Corp. Scandal

1992 Sep 18

Ross Perot's name was submitted for the 50th state ballot -- Arizona -- on the same day that Perot hinted on NBC's "Today" show that he might throw his hat into the presidential ring, after all.
Links: USA, Arizona

1992

The Virgil Earp law in Tombstone, Arizona, was repealed on the grounds that it was superceded by state law that allowed people to carry guns without a permit.
Links: USA, Arizona, Guns

Labor leader Cesar Chavez (b.1927) died in San Luis, Ariz. He founded the United Farm Workers Union on his birthday Mar 31, 1962. In 1996 a 2-hr documentary of his life was made: "The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Struggle." In 2011 Frank Bardacke authored “Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Movement.” In 2014 Miriam Pawel authored “The Crusades of Cesar Chavez.”
Links: USA, Labor, Arizona, Film, Biography, Agriculture

1993 Sep 26

Eight people emerged from the glass dome of Biosphere Two in the Arizona desert after being sealed inside for two years in an experiment dogged by setbacks and controversy. In 2006 Jane Poynter, one of the participants, authored “The Human Experiment, Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2.”
Links: USA, Arizona, BioTech

Charles Keating, Arizona land developer, was found guilty by a federal jury on 73 counts of racketeering, fraud, and conspiracy and sentenced to 12 years. His son was also convicted on 64 counts that alleged many of the same crimes. Federal charges were overturned in 1996.
Links: USA, Arizona, Real Estate, Fraud

1993

Guillermo Gaede, an Intel engineer, used his computer to tap into plans for the Pentium & 486 chip manufacturing process and video taped the information. He sent the info his former employer Advanced Micro Devices who notified federal authorities. He claimed to have been double-crossed by the FBI and also to have passed info from AMD to Cuba, China, North Korea and Iran. He was arrested in Phoenix on Sep 23, 1995.
Links: USA, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Arizona, Computer

TimelinesA text-based site.

1993

An international competition rated Phoenix, Az., and Christchurch, New Zealand, as the world’s best governed cities.
Links: Arizona, New Zealand

1994 Jan 14

In Phoenix, Ariz., Shane Stant, who admitted to being the "hit man" in the clubbing assault on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, surrendered to authorities.
Links: USA, Arizona, Skating

1994 Mar 6

In Arizona a 2nd 7-member crew entered the Biosphere 2. Their mission was cut short under management problems and reorganization.
Links: USA, Environment, Arizona

Evelyn Wood (86), speed reading guru, died in Tucson, Arizona. The Salt Lake City school teacher, began popularizing her “Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics” in the late 1950s after seeing her graduate-school professors speed-read through a paper.
Links: USA, Utah, Arizona

Guillermo Gaede, an Intel engineer, was arrested in Phoenix. He had used his computer to tap into plans for the Pentium & 486 chip manufacturing process and video taped the information in May 1993. He sent the info to his former employer Advanced Micro Devices who notified federal authorities. He claimed to have been double-crossed by the FBI and also to have passed info from AMD to Cuba, China, North Korea and Iran.
Links: USA, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Arizona, Computer, FBI

1995 Oct 9

Saboteurs pulled 29 spikes from a stretch of railroad track, causing an Amtrak train to derail in Arizona; one person was killed and about 100 were injured.
Links: USA, Arizona

Poet James Merrill (b.1926) died in Tucson, Arizona, from AIDS. In 2001 Alison Lurie authored "Familiar Spirits: A Memoir of James Merrill and David Jackson." In 2015 Langdon Hammer authored James Merrill: Life and Art.”
Links: USA, Poet, Arizona, AIDS

Arizona Governor Fife Symington was indicted on charges of making false statement to financial institutions and using his office to free himself from a $10 mil loan guarantee.
Links: Arizona, Govm’t Scandal

1996 Jul 1

Twelve members of an Arizona anti-government group, the Viper Militia, were charged with plotting to blow up government buildings. The group was infiltrated by Drew Nolan, an agent for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
Links: USA, Arizona

1996 Jul 2

US federal officials announced the arrest of 12 members of a militia unit, called Viper Militia, that had planned to bomb government offices in the Phoenix area. On Dec 19 two members pleaded guilty to explosives and weapons charges. On Dec 27 three more members pleaded guilty.
Links: USA, Arizona

1996 Dec 30

The Clinton administration said that doctors who prescribe marijuana could be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid programs and lose the right to prescribe drugs. Voters in California and Arizona had approved measures for medical use of marijuana.
Links: USA, California, Medical, Arizona, ClintonB

Harry Helmsley (87), self-made billionaire and husband to Leona, died in Scottsdale, Ariz. His vast real estate holdings included the Empire State Building. His entire $1.7 billion estate was left to his wife except for $25k left to a longtime secretary.
Links: NYC, Arizona, Real Estate

1997 Mar 25

Former President George Bush, 73, parachuted from a plane over the Arizona desert.
Links: Arizona, BushHW

American Rivers Inc., a national conservation group, listed this year’s ten most endangered rivers. Included were the Potomac, San Joaquin, the lower Colorado and the Hudson Rivers.
Links: USA, California, Environment, New York, Virginia, Arizona

1997 May 14

Margaret Lesher (64), inheritor of the Lesher media empire, was reported missing by her new husband, T.C. Thorstenson (39), at Bartlett Lake near Phoenix. She was found drowned.
Links: Arizona